In recent years, a transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment is increasingly receiving attentions as a treatment method to various patients of neural diseases for which medication is not always effective. The transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment is a relatively new treatment method for applying magnetic stimulation to a particular portion of the brain (brain nerve, for example) by a magnetic field generating source provided on the surface of a patient s scalp, thereby capable of providing a treatment and/or relieving symptoms. Unlike the conventional electric stimulation requiring a craniotomy procedure and using an implanted electrode that makes a patient highly uncomfortable, the transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment is expected to be broadly used as a treatment method that is non-invasive and less stressful for patients.
As a specific method of such a transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment, there is known a method of applying electrical current to a coil provided on the surface of a patient s scalp, regionally generating a small pulsed magnetic field, generating eddy current within a cranium based on a principle of electromagnetic induction, and applying stimulation to the brain nerve immediately under the coil (see Patent Literature 1, for example).
According to Patent Literature 1, it is confirmed that the transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment provided according to the above method effectively relieves intractable neuropathic pains, and in addition, provides a higher effect for pain relief by applying focal stimulation more accurately. However, it is also disclosed that optimum stimulating regions of individual patients are delicately different.
Therefore, in order to achieve a higher effect with the transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment, it is important how an optimum stimulating region on a patient s head is determined for each patient, or more specifically, how three-dimensional positioning of a stimulation coil to the patient s head is performed accurately. It should be noted that it is also known that even if the position of the stimulation coil is the same, an achieved effect varies depending on an orientation (posture) of the coil.
Known configurations of the positioning of such a stimulation coil include positioning of a stimulation coil on the patient s head utilizing an optical tracking system using infrared rays (see Patent Literatures 2 and 3, for example), and some are commercially available and applied in clinical settings. In addition, Patent Literature 4 discloses a device capable of positioning a stimulation coil on the patient s head using an articulated robot.
Further, Patent Literature 1 also discloses that a pain relief effect by performing the transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment described above lasts for on the order of several hours, but not for days or longer. Therefore, in terms of the pain relief, it is considered to be desirable to perform the treatment continuously, without taking a long interval, preferably every day. In order to allow such a continuous treatment to be performed without imposing too much burden on a patient such as physically and in terms of time, it is ideal that a treatment at home or at a personal doctor s office in the neighborhood be made possible.